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Title: Communication: Nuclear quadrupole moment-induced Cotton-Mouton effect in noble gas atoms

Journal Article · · Journal of Chemical Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4830094· OSTI ID:22255287
;  [1];  [2]
  1. NMR Research Group, Department of Physics, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 3000, FIN-90014 Oulu (Finland)
  2. Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IPCF-CNR), Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa (Italy)

New, high-sensitivity and high-resolution spectroscopic and imaging methods may be developed by exploiting nuclear magneto-optic effects. A first-principles electronic structure formulation of nuclear electric quadrupole moment-induced Cotton-Mouton effect (NQCME) is presented for closed-shell atoms. In NQCME, aligned quadrupole moments alter the index of refraction of the medium along with and perpendicular to the direction of nuclear alignment. The roles of basis-set convergence, electron correlation, and relativistic effects are investigated for three quadrupolar noble gas isotopes: {sup 21}Ne, {sup 83}Kr, and {sup 131}Xe. The magnitude of the resulting ellipticities is predicted to be 10{sup −4}–10{sup −6} rad/(M cm) for fully spin-polarized nuclei. These should be detectable in the Voigt setup. Particularly interesting is the case of {sup 131}Xe, in which a high degree of spin polarization can be achieved via spin-exchange optical hyperpolarization.

OSTI ID:
22255287
Journal Information:
Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 139, Issue 18; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-9606
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English